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I'm biased of course, because it's my question, but I think #7 would be a good one to ask in person at Comic Con because you could show them where we imagine things connecting and explain or reasoning a little more to prevent any confusion or misunderstanding.

I also wanted to remind you that we had considered asking about whatever happened to the funeral pyre Vader if it isn't shown as one of this year's exclusives.

My only concern with asking questions currently on the list is we have almost no questions left as it is, but I'll consider using question 7 if I get the opportunity.

Thanks for the reminder on Funeral Pyre Vader. They were shopping it, so we were waiting to hear.

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

JT, I hate to harp on it, but do you think possibly asking about the wonky distribution across all the "boys' lines" the past year might be more appropriate in person than via the Q&A?

Marvel's had great distribution. But I hear ya. Can you give me any focus points to ask more specifically of the SW team? Distribution is definitely a huge problem for TF, GI Joe, and SW, so we're wondering if it's systemic or just a trio of bad timing.

I also wanted to ask about the increased pricing being a source of trouble for the line.

Oh, and I guess a question about the Starfighter Vehicle asst going down in flames this year, assuming it's not addressed at the panel.

Good, now we're on our way. More would be great.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Maybe pointing out that an awful lot of stores have gotten nothing since last fall's AOTC wave, and I can't think of a single store I've been to that's not swamped with 4-LOMs and Dengars.

If you're asking about the price increase, it might be a good idea to incorporate the whole "what the hell is the logic of selling the same character in 'Legends' [or whatever it's called this week] and Vintage, with a $2 price difference?"

And, on a related note, maybe point out that for some collectors (not all, I know, but I'm not entirely alone on this), the $9-$11 price point has crossed a "make or break" point, making people far more selective and less likely to buy resculpts aside from the most sorely needed ones.

The points I brought up about Saga Legends might be better suited for an in-person conversation than a question here, given that there are multiple angles to go over and I'd like to hear about them all. The points being: a reversal on not having the same characters in both SL and the main line; the so-called "ceiling" on certain figures, like Anakin and Obi-Wan, finally being hit; what SL's current purpose is when TVC also has a mix of main characters and army builders with occasional background characters, and how that compares to its purpose in the past, which was always to supplement the other lines and ensure that certain characters were always around, which is what TVC is now doing.

I also wonder if asking about constantly selling a plain white ROTS clone would be good for an in-person conversation as well. They've never really addressed that there are only two plain white clones in the entire film.

Oh, and another one; this one can be either here or at the con:
*While the ARC Trooper Commander (aka Captain Fordo) figure and most of his accessories are sculpted in a very realistic style that fits with the rest of the realistic-styled figures from the Clone Wars micro-series, the Phase II helmet is sculpted in a very stylized manner that skews quite closely to the simple, angular designs of the cartoon. It seems that Tartakovsky and co. had meant for Fordo's Phase II helmet to be similar to that of Commander Neyo, simply adapted to their style of animation. Why was such a stylized approach taken for the sculpting of the helmet, when nothing of this manner has been done on previous realistic micro-series figures? Will we see a more realistic, Neyo-style helmet included with a re-release of the figure?

New question:
Prototypes for TVC wave 8 (including Kithaba, Nom Anor, Aayla Secura and Dr. Evazan) were shown at Toy Fair 2011 and we were initially given a release date somewhere between June and August 2011. However, July is nearly over and wave 7 (Bespin Han, RFT, Bom Vimdin, etc.) is just starting to hit stores in considerable numbers. Now online retailers are giving case breakdowns of wave 8 and 9 and both waves are taken up almost entirely by the Revenge of the Jedi subline with no word on the status of the original wave 8 assortment. Considering how, from a collector standpoint, TVC has been struggling just to survive at retail, with new figures being so difficult to find that many collectors are just throwing in the towel; it's difficult to understand the logic behind clogging the pegs with two more waves of figures that consist almost entirely of repacks. So, what was the thinking behind the decision to postpone several highly requested figures to make space for a repack-subline that, quite frankly, NOBODY was asking for?

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

And, the curse of the "last day to vote!" post continues as round 92 voting goes down in flames.

Thanks to everybody who participated.

So, here's what we're sending in for this round, despite the previous round's answers not yet coming back:

Vader's TIE Advanced X1 has been using the same POTF2 mold for over 13 years now, and the design is showing its age. The cockpit hatch is all wrong, the window is too small, the implementation of action gimmicks hurts the movie-accuracy and just aren't that fun, the cockpit isn't terribly accurate or sized that well to modern Vader figures, and the color is the blue-gray color of ESB and ROTJ rather than the proper gray color of ANH - the only film it was in. This is Vader's signature vehicle, it should at least live up to the quality of the other vehicles in the line, much less represent one of the brand's top characters - especially since the Hasbro SW team's vehicle designs have been so good lately too. What are the chances of seeing something done to address those issues on Vader's TIE Advanced X1 in the foreseeable future?

You have this nice new Qui-Gon Jinn figure that came out in the Jedi Evolution set, and has been re-released in the nifty Eopie mail-away set, yet both times the figure has been marred by including the blobby 1999 lightsaber accessory. Luke Jedi keeps coming out with either repaints of the ROTS Obi-Wan's lightsabers (which has different details), or worse, the blobby Obi-Wan POTJ saber from 2000. Both the '99 Qui-Gon and '00 Obi-Wan as Luke Jedi sabers also have the old smooth blade design without the flare on top of their soft hilt sculpting, and both Qui-Gon and Luke Jedi actually had better saber accessories designed during the Saga line, yet we never get them. And what about one of the most iconic lightsabers in recent SW memory, Darth Maul? There is no modern-quality version at all, the closest is the '02 Saga metal hilt with removable blades, but the blades break easily, so we haven't seen it in a while, and it's a bit long. We don't have a deactivated one to hang on a belt, don't have a 1-blade-activated version, don't have a "cut in half" version, Maul is pretty lacking for his weapon. Why are we getting old junky saber accessories with the modern versions of these guys? Why aren't we seeing better, more accurate lightsaber accessories for some of these fairly major, recognizable Jedi characters? And will these issues be addressed soon?

Look for a new round of voting soon.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.